What are Buy Nothing Groups
The Buy Nothing Project started in 2013 out of Washington State as a Facebook group that aimed at creating communities and facilitating gifting among neighbors. Today in 2024 there are Buy Nothing groups across the United States and internationally.
Most of the groups follow the same basic rules; give, lend, receive, and borrow with your neighbors, no buying/selling or trading or promoting. Many groups allow participants to post an ask or “in search of” request. The whole idea is to create a local gifting economy, reuse and recycle with your neighbors.
Gifting
When I first heard about and joined my local Buy Nothing group, my grandmother had recently passed so we had a lot of things to get out of her house. Giving to my neighbors rather than dropping things off at a Goodwill or Salvation Army appealed to me. I would take a picture of the item, post a brief description, and wait for someone to express interest. I would pick one of the interested commenters and message them to schedule a time for pickup. The convenience of having people come right to the house to collect items made it so easy to get organized. I remember gifting a stand mixer we had never used, a desk to someone who was starting to work from home, and several puzzles for someone to use in their work at a senior center.
Receiving
Over the following years as my son was born and grew, we were consistently able to get hand-me-down clothes and toys. I would see pictures of toys or clothes in his size and comment that I was interested. We quickly made friends with families in the neighborhood who have kids slightly older or younger than our own. Being able to receive gently used items for our son has undoubtedly saved us time, money, and stress. Getting to know other families nearby has added to our positive feelings about our neighborhood and grown a true sense of community for us.
I personally have found great satisfaction when someone posts that they are “in search of” something that I just so happen to have and not need so I can gift it to them. I have received answers to most of the requests I have posted. Most recently we were able to acquire a 30-gallon fish tank, fully set up with two tropical fish from a neighbor who was moving out of state. Last summer, another neighbor had posted in search of help with transportation and was amazingly gifted a used minivan. I have seen people receive everything from plants for their garden to a new refrigerator.
How to Join
Some of the Rochester-based Facebook groups include:
- The Tiny Humans of Rochester Item Exchange (which is focused on kid-related gifts, open to the entire greater Rochester area)
- Gifting With Integrity Greece (South)
- Buy Nothing Greece (NE)
- Buy Nothing Gates NY
- Fairport Give & Take
- Buy Nothing Irondequoit NY
- Buy Nothing Penfield NY
- Buy Nothing Chili NY
- Buy Nothing Henrietta (East)
- Buy Nothing Webster NY
- Buy Nothing Everything Free Canadaigua/Farmington/Victor NY
And there are so many more! If you search “buy nothing” on Facebook and don’t see your town pop up, try contacting one of the nearby town group admins for help!
There is a Buy Nothing Project App available for Android or Apple. However, the Facebook groups are much more specific to local neighborhoods and may be easier to navigate.
I cannot recommend these groups enough! Especially to parents. The value of being able to receive things for free, to give freely to your neighbors, and the sense of community gained in the process is intangible. I have joked multiple times that Buy Nothing Groups are the only reason I still have a Facebook account.
